Home Office

Female Genital Mutilation

Mr Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which organisations bid for money under the female genital mutilation (FGM) Community Engagement Initiative 2014; which organisations were successful in their bids and how much they received as a result; what assessment she has made of how successful each project was in terms of (a) raising awareness about socio-cultural, ethnic-legal, sexual health and clinical implications, (b) strengthening the voice of communities speaking out against FGM and (c) creating new opportunities to talk about FGM.

Richard Harrington: Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a crime. We will not tolerate a practice that can cause extreme and lifelong physical and psychological suffering to women and girls.In 2014/15, the Home Office provided over £100,000 to community organisations through the FGM Community Engagement Initiative. The fund was open to organisations across the UK to bid for up to £10,000 to carry out community work to raise awareness of FGM.The 12 projects included work to build the confidence of women and communities to speak out against FGM and raise awareness of the potential health, social and cultural implications.The evaluations show that nearly 6,000 people were engaged in a variety of activities designed to raise awareness about FGM and strengthen the voices of communities. Feedback from participants demonstrated increased awareness of the context, manifestation and harm caused by FGM. A list of the organisations funded is provided below:OrganisationAmount (£)Africa Advocacy Foundation10,000All FM4,000BAWSO (Black Association of Women Step Out)10,000Birmingham and Solihull Women’s Aid10,000FORWARD (Foundation for Women’s Health Research and Development)10,000Integrate Bristol10,000Katherine Low Settlement10,000Manchester BME Network10,000Manor Garden Welfare Trust10,000NESTAC (New Step for African Community)10,000Safe Hands for Mothers10,000Springfield Community Flat10,000

Immigrants: Detainees

Louise Haigh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent estimate she has made of the number of victims of trafficking who were detained in immigration detention since (a) January 2015 and (b) June 2015.

Richard Harrington: Individuals who have been identified as victims of trafficking by the competent authorities are normally considered suitable for detention in only very exceptional circumstances, which include cases where there is a risk of public harm. This data is not collected centrally and accurate figures are not available.Once a person is detained their continued detention remains under review by the Home Office at least at monthly intervals, and earlier in response to any change of circumstances that might have a material effect on their detention.

Olympic and Paralympic Games 2012: Security

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate the Government made (a) before and (b) after 7 July 2005 of the likely security costs for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Richard Harrington: The Government first announced the funding package for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in March 2007 [HCDebs dated 15 March 2007- Hansard Column 450]. This included a preliminary estimate of £600 million for policing and wider security tasks. In addition, £238 million was set aside as contingency.The final cost of policing and wider security for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games was £423 million and the final cost of venue security was £429 million. [WMS dated 16 July 2013- Hansard Column 71ws].

Ministry of Justice

Magistrates' Courts: Bury

Mr David Nuttall: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate HM Courts and Tribunals Service has made of the likely sale price of Bury Magistrates' Court.

Andrew Selous: No decision has been taken to close Bury Magistrates' Court and County Court.Disposal strategies will be developed once a decision is made on individual courts following the outcome of consultation.

Corruption

Byron Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what progress he has made on Action 36 of the UK Anti-Corruption Plan; and when he expects corporate criminal liability to be introduced.

Andrew Selous: The UK has corporate criminal liability and commercial organisations can be, and are, prosecuted for wrongdoing. The UK Anti-Corruption Plan tasked the Ministry of Justice to examine the case for a new offence of a corporate failure to prevent economic crime and the rules on establishing corporate criminal liability more widely. Ministers have decided not to carry out further work at this stage as there have been no prosecutions under the model Bribery Act offence and there is little evidence of corporate economic wrongdoing going unpunished.

Prisoners: Clothing

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much has been spent on purchasing clothing for prisoners in the latest period for which figures are available; and how much of that cost will be recovered from prisoners.

Andrew Selous: The majority of prisoner clothing is manufactured within prison workshops. This provides meaningful work for prisoners and helps keep costs down. From April 2014 to March 2015, £630,750 was spent on clothing from outside suppliers to top up production from prison workshops. Individual prisons can choose to recover the costs of clothing for prisoners at the discretion of the governor. Data on this is not held centrally.

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

Science

Mr Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what evaluation or evidence-gathering the Government (a) has carried out or commissioned and (b) plans to carry out into (i) the Grand Challenges programme announced on 17 December 2014 and (ii) the Eight Great Technologies.

Joseph Johnson: All Grand Challenges Fund projects are subject to detailed business cases in accordance with HM Treasury requirements. The projects are evaluated by analytical, finance and project specialists within BIS, and the relevant Research Council.   Evidence underpinning the “Eight Great Technologies” was set out in the Eight Great Technologies pamphlet accompanying David Willetts’ speech of the 24th of January 2013 [Eight Great Technologies, David Willetts, Policy Exchange 2013].   Projects that form part of the Grand Challenges programme are supported from the £6.9 billion science capital budget, which was subject to a public consultation launched in December 2014. Innovate UK and the Research Councils work together to explore and develop new approaches for moving potentially high impact technologies more rapidly from the research base into commercial reality.

Technology and Innovation Centres

Mr Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what estimate he has made of the proportion of the commercial gain from the work of Catapult centres that has been realised overseas.

Joseph Johnson: We have established an agreed set of key performance indicators to monitor the success of the Catapult network against its primary aim of supporting innovation by UK business, and these include funding; commercial income; business clients; SME engagements; academic collaborations; and new businesses created.   Catapults collaborate with overseas entities where it is in the long-term interests of the UK economy and, in particular, to unlock opportunities for UK companies and inward investment.